EUNICE W. JOHNSON was the illustrious founder and director (1958) of Ebony Fashion Fair, a fashion tour that pioneered the use of black models AND black designers.

She was one of the first black client’s to Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, & Oscar de la Renta; and even notably placed the first black models for Valentino & Pucci.

Starting off as hospital fundraiser, the fashion tour quickly became an annual fashion event that highlighted fashion for black women.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In its 50 existence, the tour visited 200 cities across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, raising over $50 million for charity. Sold in the leading department stores, Johnson created Fashion Fair Cosmetics in 1973, an answer to the lack of diversity in makeup for black women. Along with her husband, publishing giant John H. Johnson, they created Negro Digest, Ebony & Jet magazine.